“This man needs to be sentenced to a set number of years, with parole eligibility, and not simply to life." -- Attorney Michael Rocks

In a first-of-its-kind ruling in Jefferson Parish, a judge found Friday that last year's U.S. Supreme Court decision barring mandatory life sentences for juvenile killers can be retroactively applied. Judge Lee Faulkner of the 24th Judicial District Court rejected prosecutors' argument that Jessie Grace, who is serving life in prison for shooting a man in the back of his head in Marrero 20 year ago, should not benefit from the high court's decision in Miller v. Alabama.

Jefferson Parish Government Center in Gretna, home to the 24th Judicial District Court.Paul Purpura, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

Grace, 36, is one of 279 lifers in Louisiana and 2,500 nationwide who were convicted of murder before they turned 18. The question now is whether the high court's ruling in Miller means those prisoners might one day be released.

While some attorneys say the question of whether the law can be retroactively applied is already settled in Louisiana, prosecutors appear to be fighting it.

"Honestly, there is no reason for this court to find Miller verses Alabama is retroactive, because the law simply doesn't support it," Assistant Attorney General Colin Clark told Faulkner Friday in arguing Grace's case.

In Miller v. Alabama, the high court ruled that juvenile lifers are entitled to hearings during which judges can decide whether to change the life sentence based the person's youth at the time of the crime and other "mitigating circumstances," such as evidence showing the inmate has reformed with age.

The high court did not address whether the Miller decision is applied to cases already adjudicated. Twenty-six states were affected by the Miller decision, and at least one other state is applying it retroactively.

For Grace, Friday's ruling is a critical step forward toward correcting what Rocks said is "an illegal sentence" under the Miller decision. Unless a higher court says otherwise, Faulkner on April 1 will hold a sentencing hearing, at which Rocks presumably will present evidence purporting to show how Grace has matured and should one day be released from prison.

Before the Miller decision, Grace had no shot at such a hearing.

"This man needs to be sentenced to a set number of years, with parole eligibility, and not simply to life," Rocks said after Friday's hearing.

Clark, arguing the matter with Terry Lacey, an assistant state attorney general, will ask the state 5th Circuit Court of Appeal to review Faulkner's decision.

Grace was 16 years old in 1993, when he shot John Wayne Palmer in the back of his head and shoulder in an alley in a Marrero apartment complex.

Grace had just sold Palmer crack cocaine, and he then tried to take back the drugs and the cash at gunpoint. Palmer complied with Grace's demands but was killed nonetheless as he tried to leave, authorities said.

The Louisiana Supreme Court has already weighed in on a Jefferson Parish case, when in October justices remanded Emerson Simmons' case to the 24th Judicial District Court for a hearing on whether the Miller decision should be retroactively applied. That Supreme Court decision, Rocks said, means Louisiana has recognized that Miller is retroactive.

Simmons, of Metairie, was 17 years old on July 1, 1995, when he and two adults forced their way into Harry Heller's home in Metairie with plans to rob him to get cash for a trip to Florida. Heller, 69, who owned a Fat City bar, was beaten and bound in his home before he was shot in the head.

For his role, Simmons, 35, is serving mandatory life for second-degree murder. It's not immediately clear when Judge Ross LaDart will hold a hearing in the case.

In New Orleans, Criminal District Judge Tracey Flemings-Davillier ruled last month that the Miller decision is retroactively applied to Shon Williams' case. The state Supreme Court declined to hear the matter Jan. 8, upholding Flemings-Davillier's decision to grant Williams a sentencing hearing.

Now 36, Williams was 17 years old on May 27, 1993, when he was booked with murder in the death of Gerald Dordain, 15, who was shot during a schoolyard fight at Nicholls High School.

The U.S. Supreme Court's Miller ruling follows other decisions during the past decade that affect punishment for juvenile criminals who are prosecuted as adults. That includes barring executing juvenile killers and, in its more recent Graham v Florida decision, barring mandatory life sentences for juvenile offenders who commit crimes other than murder.